Wainfleet, Ontario

Wainfleet is a small town located on the shores of Lake Erie just west of Port Colborne. A number of cottages and residences dot the shore from Sugar Loaf Hill to Long Beach, however the town of Wainfleet is noted for its agricultural productivity. Dairy, Beef and cash crops make up the livelihoods of a majority of residents. In the summer months the town sees an influx of tourists especially during the Marshville Festival Weekend. A recreation of The Town of Wainfleet during the 1800’s, Marshville Heritage Village features a school, a blacksmith shop a steam saw mill and various other recovered vintage buildings.

The Wainfleet Bog or Marsh is the most southerly bog of its size in Canada, stretching inland along the north shore of Lake Erie from Port Colborne west to the Grand River. For many years the bog was used for the mining of Peat until it was purchased by The Nature Conservancy of Canada and other partners. The bog supports more than 350 native plant species and represents an important island of wilderness habitat in an increasingly populated region. The bog also provides habitat for many regionally and provincially rare species, as well as the nationally rare Torrey's Manna Grass, Southern Arrowwood, Virginia Bartonia, Southern Tickseed, Many-Fruited False Loosestrife and Canada Toadflax. Wainfleet is also home to a small population of the threatened Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake.

Every fall the Marshville Heritage Festival celebrates rural life in the 1800’s. Demonstrations of threshing, smithing and butter making can be seen reinacted by volunteers in period costume. Artisans and craft vendors sell their wares on the grounds. Enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes of old fashioned 19 th century small town Ontario.